A Mile in Their Shoes
by Yoshtar
Summary: I'll be honest: this is the standard RWBY story: guy wakes up near, and eventually enrols with beacon. the difference? I've taken steps to avoid Mary sues/Marty Stus, and breaking the canon. meet team CBLT (Cobalt), a labor of love that was born from a desire to provide something that wasn't Weiss boinking Ruby. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

I woke up in that forest. I'm not sure where I came from, or how I got there. there are large chunks from before then that are either flat out missing or so hazy it hurts to attempt to remember. the trees around me were charred and burnt, like there had been a fire recently, though it didn't spread far.

the moss on the rocks had also been blasted off one side, and the stuff on the other side was dead.

I concluded that whatever had happened here, it had to do with my arrival, and had caused some sort of explosion shortly beforehand.

I then figured that someone had to have done it, and I hoped beyond hope that this person hadn't driven out to the middle of nowhere to do whatever they did here.

I pulled myself out of the crater and started looking and calling out for help.

* * *

**[meanwhile]**

* * *

"Ruby, I need you and the rest of your team to investigate a recent disturbance" Headmaster Ozpin stated, standing by the window behind the carved desk in his office.

"what sort of disturbance, sir?" Ruby asked

"I received some reports of an explosion of some sort and bright lights coming from one of the southern forests before that. remember: this mission is _strictly_ reconnaissance; we need to know what, if anything, is going on." Ozpin explained

"you can leave it to me sir! team RWBY will find out what's going on in the southern forest" Ruby said enthusiastically

"of course. I'll leave you now to inform your team and gear up appropriately" Ozpin said, by way of dismissal

* * *

**[one hour later]**

* * *

"this is where Ozpin said it would be" Yang said checking her scroll for the coordinates

"well he's not wrong, this place has been burnt heavily" Blake said, standing in a tree by the borders of the clearing.

"can you see if anyone has been here Blake?" Ruby asked

"I can see one set of footprints leading out, but none heading in. whoever it was likely used the trees to get in, then decided to walk out sometime after the explosion" Blake said after a moment of careful study

the rest of the team looked and sure enough, amongst the soot there was a set of tracks clearly visible to whoever bothered to look.

"they're barefoot. it could be likely that we're dealing with either a new grimm or a faunus" Yang said

"the tracks are human in shape, so I don't think it's a Grimm" Blake said

"we're not going to find out by staying here debating it. lets track whoever did this down and ask them!" Weiss said, frustrated at a lack of action

**[meanwhile]**

I slurped water greedily from the stream. it was warm enough that I was starting to sweat, and my throat was parched. I did go out of my way to make sure the water was moving at a fair pace, since I knew that stagnant water bred disease and parasites like crazy... somehow

I scooped myself another handful of water and decided I'd had my fill, so I took off my shirt and dunked that under the stream before wringing it out. the moisture in my shirt helped to wick away the heat and made it more bearable. it was a trick i remembered at the back of my mind, but i couldn't for the life of me remember where I'd learned it.

I waited a little longer at the riverside to rest my feet, as walking barefoot had led to my feet finding all manner of stones and sticks that stuck up at odd angles to skewer my feet. I just learned to tread carefully after the first few sharp jabs.

my stomach growled to let me know that it'd been a while since I last ate. I looked around for any form of berries or nuts I could have go at, but I couldn't find anything, and I wasn't a good enough woodsman to know which were the good kind to eat anyway.

I decided to cross the stream and continue onwards to try and find something.

I managed to get across the clearing when a giant wolf monster sprang from the undergrowth, followed by another two that were slightly smaller, but only slightly. their fur was the sort of black that just absorbed light, and all of them had some sort of protrusions along their back, like bone-armor for wolves, with some sort of intricate red patterning. their eyes glowed red as they looked around, obviously searching for something.

the leader spots me and barks before charging straight for me. he crosses the clearing in two bounds and tackles me with the third. he wastes no time in going for my neck, which he could no doubt snap like a twig if he wanted.

by sheer, dumb luck and reflex, I somehow manage to both land on my back and deflect his jaw: his teeth snap mere inches from my throat.

he tries again, to the same effect as I again flat palm his face to the side.

the wolf-thing brings it's paw back to claw me, but I catch it, still running on equal parts adrenaline, instinct and reflex

I wrench the arm to the side and manage to throw the wolf, who is nearly as heavy as me, off of me. my senses must've blacked out, since the next thing I know, my hand is warmer than usual, and the other two wolves are preparing to gang up on me. even in my adrenaline fuelled state of mind, I dimly register that fighting off two at once unarmed would be an even bigger stretch.

thankfully I don't have to. the left wolf has it's head promptly explode in a shower of flower petals and a loud bang resonates from slightly off to the left, the other one has been run through with some sort of knife on a black cord that runs off to the trees.

the wind blows out of my sails and I stared dumbfounded as four girls with odd colour schemes walked out of the underbrush.

I gaped at them for a bit before catching myself and finally stammering out a hasty thanks

"are you alright?" the one with the red hood asked

"y-yeah I think so" I replied

"he's not normal" the one with the revealing, predominantly black outfit with the bow on her head stated with complete apathy

"huh?" I asked, oh-so-intelligently

she pointed behind me, where I saw something had ripped the throat out of the big wolf monster that I'd fought.

"killing a beowulf that large, bare-handed-" she gestured to my arm "-and without using your aura for protection"

three stripes of pain made their presence known as I realized that I must've gotten clawed when... I killed the 'beowulf'... I noticed that the warmness on my right hand was actually a black oily blood, and that the beowulf had a tear in it's throat that was about the size of my hand.

"so? he's just strong and crazy" the blonde one said

"no, Blake's right" the white one said "the tracks from that crater lead here, to him, better yet, he's also barefoot"

there was a brief pause as everyone confirmed that what the white one said was right.

"hey if you're talking about that scorched out clearing... I'm not sure how I got there, or why, I just kinda woke up there, feeling like I lost a fight with an angry cave bear" I interrupted "I didn't know where I was, so I started looking for a town or something. if you could take me back to civilization, that'd be appreciated"

the four exchanged a glance. I was no master at unspoken communication, so most of what was communicated went over my head. though it did seem a consensus was reached

"sure" the one with the red hood said after a bit "follow us"

* * *

**[later]**

* * *

we'd walked through the forest for a bit when I decided to break the ice with "my name's Leo Dante. thanks for the save back there" I said, still nervous as the four still had their weapons at the ready.

"you're welcome" the blonde one said

"uh... what are your names? ...I owe you guys big time" I said

"I'm Ruby" the hooded one says

"I'm Yang" blondie replies

"my name is Weiss Schnee" the white one who'd been giving me ice-cold glares everytime I'd stumbled or stuck my foot on a rock or twig said, as though I should recognize her last name

at that moment I managed to trip over a root, so I nearly didn't catch the girl in black mention that her name was Blake

thankfully I managed to grab a convenient branch, and was able to right myself, complain about a stubbed big toe and pulled muscle, and kept walking.

eventually, and I _wish_ I was kidding, a castle rolls into view as we break the treeline. something about the way the arched spires loomed overhead spelled trouble to me... I'm not sure why.

Yang turned to me and simply said "welcome to Beacon Academy!"

* * *

**hey all... I'm back...-ish... this story is as much to do something NOT romance related for RWBY, as it is to test Word Online, the free, stripped-down, MS Word service you get with an Outlook .com account.**

**that said, it's here, read, review, and tell me if you can think of anything interesting to put in. I'm happy to crowd source an idea if it's any good.**

**also, I'm looking for OC ideas for Leo's team, so i need three OC's and/or weapons. rev up the idea generators, since my muse only handed me a single weapon design.**


	2. Chapter 2

Professor Ozpin watched the new arrival to his academy with some suspicion on the surveilance cameras.

this 'Leo Dante' had stayed in a spare room after the infirmary had given him a clean bill of health. his amnesia had meant that his family would have to come for him, and Ozpin had been feeling charitable when Leo had said he had nowhere to go due to having no memories of where his home was.

Leo had since spent large amounts of time in the library already, reading a surprising amount in only a few days, on everything from dust to weapon crafting, to the creatures of grimm. it had been amusing to discover one of the first texts he'd read was a beginners guide to woodsmanship and foraging for food.

he'd claimed it was to see if anything rang true or not and if there was anything to bring memories back.

it would appear he'd gotten bored of that now though, and was in the practice area with a training dummy and a simple gladius he had borrowed from another student.

Ozpin watched as Leo went through the motions, and was impressed at the amount of promise the young man showed; the complex motions he was already attempting, although basic by terms of Beacon Academy's usual residents, he was learning to perform remarkably fast. if he had to guess, Ozpin would have to say that Leo used to study at one of the other hunter academies.

* * *

**[meanwhile]**

* * *

"thanks again Pyrrha" Jaune said

"my pleasure" Pyrrha replied

"no, really, I'm not sure I could've gone much longer before someone noticed I wasn't exactly who my transcripts said I was" Jaune said

"you wont be thanking me in a few minutes" Pyrrha said as she pushed open the door to the training room.

both Jaune and Pyrrha were surprised to find Leo in there with a dozen training dummies and a sword. Pyrrha quickly silencde Jaune to watch as Leo took a running charge at one of the dummies before leaping in the air at the last second and swiping his sword at the dummies neck, knocking it over; landing behind where it stood and bringing the sword around in a pirouette that dragged what Pyrrha knew should've been a hamstring slash across the dummies back, before kicking it with the trailing foot. Pyrrha could already find a dozen simple things wrong with that attack alone.

Leo's back was turned towards Pyrrha, and she took some small satisfaction when he almost leapt across the room in surprise (he instead tumbled headfirst into another padded dummy, which also served to break his fall) as she simply said "well done"

"I meant to do that!" he said in a futile effort to save face

"though your stance is all wrong, and you've got the wrong sword for that style" Pyrrha added

"I'm just as aware of that" Leo said as he extracted himself from the dummy's padded embrace

"then why are you here?" Pyrrha asked

"because this was the biggest section in the library" Leo replied holding out the gladius to Pyrrha

"Combat has a hundred different factors and variable, and if even a few aren't in your favour, there's a good chance you'll die" Pyrrha said

"oh"

"however, I WAS about to help Jaune here" Pyrhha said, gesturing towards Jaune, who just waved at Leo "and it would probably help if he had a rival and a sparring partner at his level"

"but I'm a complete rookie" Leo objected

Pyrrha just raised an eyebrow, however it was Jaune who spoke first

"trust me, just go with it, you don't want to turn down help like this" Jaune said

"okay, I guess so" Leo conceded.

* * *

**[30 minutes later]**

* * *

"WHYYYYY!" Leo shouted as he struggled to lift the weights above his arms and keep his balance on the beam above the hot coals.

"because you need to realize that even a blunt weapon can kill, and keep a strong grip." Pyrrha said.

she'd forced Leo through this after a careless slip had sent the (admittedly blunt) gladius flying towards her face, and it was only through her control over magnetism that disaster was averted.

* * *

Ozpin smiled as he watched the security feed. it would seem that he would have some entertainment for a long while.

* * *

**okay... chapter two... lets see if I can sink number three at least before something else strikes my fancy. i'm aware that it's short, but i got stumped. next chapter, we arm him. nothing fancy or awesome. also if it looks like Leo is getting too much praise or something stupid like that, do tell. i take that shit seriously, though i obviously wear creators goggles and don't always spot it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**[in a well-used workshop, slightly after curfew]**

* * *

I stopped what I was doing once the final screw was driven home, when the last casing had clicked into place and when the last port and moving part had been cleaned, oiled and tested in triplicate.

I stood back from the workbench which had been my whole world for the past... three hours if my watch was at all correct. the wonders of prefabrication.

it was an elegant thing of beauty.

the entire weapon resembled nothing so much as an old-styled rifle, made with modern materials, I'd yet to decide on a paintjob so far but that would come later. I still needed a name to just bring the whole thing together.

I picked up the sleek weapon that was a product of equal parts blood, sweat, tears, effort, and, most importantly, love.

I pulled a switch and smiled in joyous satisfaction as the grip straightened out into a more hilt-like fashion whilst the stock retracted into the handle. the blade I'd worked so hard on shot out of the grip under the barrel, extending one and a half feet from the tip of the barrel. it was long, sharp, with a single edge and pointed tip, making it equally suited to slashing or stabbing, but not hacking. essentially it had become a one-handed sword with a little sabre and a bunch of eastern flair mixed in that I could also shoot with.

I'd decided against using dust bullets, as I found the recoil way too much for one arm like I intended it to be used, so I'd built around that, and found several high-capacity, dust-powered batteries to power a high-strength, miniaturized laser emitter and telescoping focusing array. it didn't have much charge but the guy who I'd ordered them from on dust-net had said that he would send me some improved versions later.

the end result was that when I pulled the trigger, a brilliant ruby red lance of light left a small pockmark and a scorch mark in the far wall, though a little to the left of where I expected it to go. flicking the switch from earlier back, the knife retracted into the fore-grip by telescoping the tip into the bottom of the two sections, and the grip shifted to a more comfortable angle and a simple red-dot sight flicked up. I shouldered the rifle and adjusted the sights before sending another laser down the same hole as the last one.

a good number of the weapons at beacon academy were an engineering marvel in their own right; hopefully I'd fit in slightly better now... whilst I waited for people I don't remember to recognize me.

* * *

**[meanwhile]**

* * *

"sir, we might have a problem" Professor Goodwitch reported

"tell me, what's got you so nervous" Ozpin said

Professor Goodwitch straightened her glasses before continuing "it's that Leo Dante, that boy that was rescued from the southern forests several months ago"

"of course, I've been keeping a careful eye on him" Ozpin replied

"the international data just came in sir, we've checked banks accounts, offical records everything and we can't find any mention of this Leo Dante anywhere." Prof. Goodwitch said "it's like he didn't exist before we found him"

Ozpin pulled out his scroll, and scrolled through to find several months worth of surveillance data on Leo Dante. images of him sparring, reading and forging floated past on the screen

Ozpin sipped from his ever present coffee before making his decision "from what I've seen, this Leo Dante is not a threat. whatever brought him here, from wherever he was before, and for whatever purpose, we cannot say, but I feel that we shouldn't use this lack of information to just kick him out. I feel that his appearance is a mystery that must be solved... the new semester is coming up, and with it, a fresh lot of fist-year students... put him in with the others, it may draw the forces that brought him here out into the open, from where, we can determine their motives"

"are you sure that's wise sir? I know Teams RWBY and JNPR have been... instructing him, but I don't think he's ready for the creatures of Grimm" Prof. Goodwytch asked

"he will learn, from what I've seen, it's what he does best, and I feel that he has more than a few... surprises in store... for everyone" Ozpin replied "and the creatures of grimm, and a team, may help shed light as to his nature as well"

Glynda sighed, knowing that Ozpin wouldn't change his mind, and that it really wasn't best to argue this point with him. "very well, Leo Dante will enroll and begin with next semesters students."

"is that all for today?" Ozpin asked

"yes sir" Glynda replied

"then you are free to leave" Ozpin said.

* * *

**[the next day]**

* * *

Ruby and Pyrrha walked into the training room to see me fiddling with my rifle.

"is that why you called us here?" Pyrrha asked, looking around at the rubble and shredded, burnt paper targets that surrounded me

"yeah. I just finished it, I just still need to do a few more calibrations and it'll be perfect" I replied

"that's... actually quite impressive" Pyrrha said

"I took some inspiration from your weapon, a little from Ruby and some from a Sci-fi novel I remember reading once." I said matter-of-factly as I lifted it for them to see.

"so what can it do?" Ruby asked the curiosity in her voice and stance almost obvious after Pyrrha's admittedly brutal training.

I pointed it at one of the paper targets without looking up and squeezed the trigger, and a brilliant sapphire lance of light connected me and my target for the briefest moment before burning through the thin paper in a fraction of a second.

"recoiless laser with three power modes, for differing armor, though at the cost of battery life" I said "I'm still working on the overall charge, but then again, new technology and such"

I flicked the switch, and adjusted my grip as the rifle became a sword

"powered bayonet, means that the electric pulses interfere with your nervous system, slowing you down, as well as causing mild shocks" I added "plus I made it so I can use it with the sword training you gave me"

I flicked it back to it's rifle form and held it close to me

"and it's really fricking cool... though not as cool as crescent rose" I said before turning to Pyrrha "and I'm not about to go throwing this like Milo, that'd just be silly"

"your gun fires lasers! have some pride; you built something _AWESOME!_" Ruby all but shouted at me, apparently unable to contain her excitement

"thanks, I guess" I said "though I still don't have a name for an old-style rifle that shoots blue lasers with a machete-bayonet thing that looks like a straight katana on the end"

"that's... quite the description" Pyrrha remarked

"tell me about it" I replied, rolling my eyes.

Ruby and Pyrrha both thought for about a minute, with neither achieving any sort of result.

"we... might need to think on this... mind if we come back tomorrow?" Ruby asked

"sure, why not. I'll be here for a bit, trying to figure out why I'm going through my emitters like nothing else" I said as I stripped back the casing and carefully disengaged the fragile device from it's mechanism, noting the heat damage.

I heard the door shut as the girls walked out of the training room, but I paid it no mind as I figured out how I was going to get a transformer _that_ small.

* * *

**okay readers and reviewers... I'll admit, I'm stumped. I suck at names almost as bad as Handsome Jack does; so I was going to ask you guys if you've got anything particularly creative or original for the weapon I've described.**

**for a visual guide to the gun described, I was looking and looking, and eventually came across the Krieg Pattern Lasgun from Warhammer 40k. basically, take one of those, and undersling it with a bayonet large enough to wield as a short sword that pops out of the metal undercarriage when you straighten it out to better resemble a sword.**

**Coming up next episode: Meet the crazy guys and gals with guns that Leo's supposed to work with.**


	4. Chapter 4

**[At the cliffs overlooking the emerald forest]**

* * *

"...Now you will be using your own landing strategy, but I trust that the lot of you are quite capable of making this... small jump." Ozpin said. "Best of luck, and try not to die."

_'Well that's encouraging,'_ I thought to myself, gripping my weapon tighter after rechecking the tightness of the straps holding my 'armour' on. I used that term loosely, as it was just a series of metal plates and tough fibers meant to ward off shrapnel and help deflect 'friendly fire'. It wasn't going to stand up to a straightforward attack from Grimm claws, or completely stop a bullet if they really wished me harm.

It did give a nice 'military' look though.

My attention was drawn towards a loud bang as the platform next to me flung its contents skywards. I braced myself and spread my weight before I was suddenly weightless, flying through the sky at a phenomenal rate.

I'd had a chance to memorize a map of the area and I knew where the path that would lead me to the forest temple would be, and I followed it with my eyes as the treeline got closer and closer. From team RWBY and JNPR's experience and tales from their initiation, I'd also thought to bring an arresting hook as well, and I reached into my belt for the simple metal hook on an elastic cord.

The first branch came at shoulder height, and was thin enough that my spaulder didn't even dent when I shouldered my way through. The next one was thicker, and at the right height, but it just snapped when the bungee cord went tight.

The next branch I nearly didn't see, but it caught my shin guard and sent me tumbling head over heels. I felt the branches battering at my body, and I knew I would be incredibly sore after all this.

After maybe a dozen snaps as my _brilliant_ arresting hook was rendered useless, I hit the dirt and slid for a bit, scraping up the top layer as I went.

I lay there for a while; dazed, winded and sore in a number of places, though the angry beat down Yang had handed out that one time I shall never mention again probably edged this out for most pain I'd been through right now. Even still, it bloody hurt, and I wasn't going much of anywhere for a while. Since the branches had broken my fall, I didn't break anything in the impact, though I supposed I would bruise horribly.

* * *

**[Fifteen minutes later.]**

* * *

Cerise knew that she heard a lot of noise from this area not long after she landed. She didn't know that many Grimm that shouted, "Gah f*ck!" as they plummeted through the trees. '_I suppose I'll be finding my first team member soon_,' she thought to herself.

Looking upwards, Cerise saw the trail of destruction through the treetops, branches hanging on by splinters, that sort of thing.

Eventually she found the landing spot: a trail of mud and scraped up earth that travelled for ten metres before she found that guy who wasn't on the airship to beacon yesterday, but was part of the initiation anyways, laying at the head of the shallow trench with his rifle sticking upwards at an odd angle with the tip of its barrel stuck in the ground.

Cerise immediately ran to his side and set about assessing his condition.

It looked to mainly be bruises and the like, with no actual permanent harm or broken bones. He was tough, it would seem, but his aura should have prevented damage like that.

"H-hey..."

Cerise jumped in surprise. She'd forgotten that he was still conscious. She had found him thanks to the groaning and everything. Cerise mentally berated herself for forgetting such a simple thing.

"Can I get a hand standing up?" he asked.

"Are you sure that's a smart idea?" Cerise asked "I don't want to exacerbate any injuries"

"Only one way to find out," her patient replied.

Cerise paused for a bit, before grabbing his outstretched hand, and felt her strength draining from her, before returning just as suddenly.

She pulled her new teammate off the ground, right before immediately asking, "And what the hell was that?!"

"I'm... stunted: I can't seem to produce aura. We have figured out I can borrow it, temporarily. I just used your aura to shunt myself through the worst of the healing process." he explained.

"Okay, firstly, 'we'? And secondly, that's kinda creepy, you should've asked first." Cerise said, less angry but still ticked off.

"By 'we', I mean 'me and a few friends I've made'," he replied. "And secondly, would you have taken a request to 'borrow your aura to block pain and stop bruises from forming' seriously?" he said.

"Point." Cerise replied.

"Well, now you know, though I'm not going to leech you too much... it's mostly still there I just took what I needed." he said. "You and I will both need to be fighting fit to get out of this in one piece... new teammate."

"_*sigh*_ Fine... do you know where we're supposed to go at least?" Cerise asked.

"Actually I do. I've got a few friends who did this last semester, and I've done just about everything I could to prepare based on what they told me." he said.

"Anything else I should know?" Cerise asked.

"For now? Not really. If it comes up I'll tell you." he said as he pulled a pocket compass off his belt and got his bearings, obviously comparing the headings to a mental map of some sort. This stranger pulled his weapon out of the dirt, before setting off in whatever direction he'd determined.

Cerise followed, and both kept their weapons at the ready , ears alert for any sound.

After a minute of walking, the stranger, seemingly out of nowhere, said, "I'm Leo, Leo Dante."

"Cerise Elison." Cerise said. "Nice to put a name to the face."

"Likewise." Leo said.

"...At this rate, we should be there soon." Leo reported.

"That's good to know." Cerise said.

* * *

**[Meanwhile]**

* * *

Ozpin sipped his coffee, performing the usual surveillance for the initiation tests.

"I've been waiting to see that in action, just what else are you hiding behind that veil of amnesia?"

* * *

**Since I cannot possibly think of what I'm going to write next, I suppose I'm gonna call this chapter here.**

**Again, I'm kinda open to suggestions as to ideas for weapons, OC's or even weapon names... just to re-iterate that.**

**I would now like to apologize in advance as Word Online comes with no Grammar Checking functionality, and it's been pointed out that I'm missing a lot of capitalization throughout the whole story. I don't exactly have a beta reader that's interested in RWBY either... so sorry about that. Bear with me?**

**Update: I now have a beta, but not one who 'knows' RWBY and the lore.**

**Please review, since you've probably already read my story.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Guess what folks? It's also time to reveal the other half of the OC team, whom I've settled on an acronym for at last.**

* * *

I was making some small talk with Cerise as we walked towards the Forest Temple but quickly decided to keep quiet as a string of large and loud explosions resounded through the forest.

"Another teammate?"

"I'd say so."

* * *

**[Ground zero]**

* * *

Tamani Faye hefted her 'extra large' monkey wrench (which she had named Foo at a really young age) over her shoulder, and almost skipped out of the large smoking crater.

That'd show _THAT U_rsa. Now there were only two more to go.

She loaded up another crystal into her wrench, her face becoming a mock-up scowl that only ran skin deep. If you asked her, she'd likely say she was excited by the prospect of battle.

One of the Ursa rushed Tamani, and took a horizontal sweep at the admittedly short girl. Most people would probably have had their face taken off, but not the 'unpredictable' Tamani Faye.

Tamani jumped onto the Ursa's arm before pointing the base of Foo's handle at the Grimm's head. The explosive force from the hidden canon shot straight through the thick skull and incredibly tough plating, killing the thing instantly, and the recoil of the blow sent Tamani skyrocketing, who, through use and abuse of her boundless energy and her protective semblance, managed to remain unharmed, if slightly more tired than before; though given her hyperactivity, this wasn't much more than a drop in the bucket.

Twirling her wrench, she brought the 'back' of the wrench down on the final ursa as she landed, shattering it's spine and crippling the beast, before delivering an otherwise crushing blow to the back of it's head, knocking the poor creature out.

She reached into her belt and pulled up one of her few cans of 'grandma's special recipe', placed it in the ursa's mouth, and tied a string to the pin.

She walked away, carefree, from the fight, yanking the cord when it drew tight. She didn't even blink when the Ursa was subsequently engulfed in a massive-fireball. There was a mushroom cloud and everything.

Tamani wiped her face clean and resumed her search for the forest temple, or the path that lead to it.

* * *

**[Elsewhere]**

* * *

Bull Kathos raised his eyes to the sky, hearing the explosions and seeing the large clouds of dust each one raised.

Deciding that he had to get moving again, he twisted slightly, and heard a crack as the Beowolf's neck snapped, a few moments before the Grimm 'expired'.

Bull picked up his 'Nemesis Tonfas' and, stepping over the corpses of the Grimm which had ambushed him upon his landing, moved to find whoever would be his partner. The mind responsible for the explosions seemed like an obvious choice, and they had been nice enough to broadcast their location to every student and every Grimm in the forest. He could respect power and bravery like that.

Taking long strides, Bull set himself a pace and bearing that would bring him to intercept whatever fighter had caused the explosion.

* * *

**[Elsewhere]**

* * *

Cerise and I stood back to back, facing outwards as dozens of Beowolves circled us, both parties looking for the slightest sign that either party would show their hand and move.

We'd been trying to get to the forest temple, when a large pack of Beowolves and their alpha had stumbled across us.

Cerise had pulled a huge nodachi from the sling on her back, and had it at the ready. I had quickly followed suit, extending the rifle's blade, and getting ready for an intense fight.

"You go for the big one, and I keep the small fry off of you?" I asked.

"Of course," Cerise replied.

"On three?" I asked.

"On three... two..." Cerise said.

"ONE!" we both shouted, as we leapt at our respective targets.

I quickly lost track of Cerise as the Beowolves all attempted to attack me. Using the laser I was able to quickly get the attention of the majority of the pack. I put some well practiced acrobatics to the test and was able to keep myself away from the deadly claw swipes that the Beowolfs slung at me.

Punctuating each flip or kick, my sword darted out, jabbing into a throat or slicing into torsos and limbs. This was further punctuated by the staccato rapping of my frequent shots, each one either killing or crippling.

There was a sense of pride as my grand experiment worked and worked _beautifully. M_y weapon was obviously experimental, since it had never seen proper life-or-death combat, and the fighting style I had developed was even more untested than the weapon. To be going through mooks like this was exhilarating on more levels than one.

As the horde began to thin out and I wasn't so concentrated on dodging, I was able to catch glimpses of Cerise as she and the alpha ducked and weaved around each others strikes, both obviously hoping to end the conflict in a single blow.

In an effort to help her, I changed a lethal blow to a smack with the but of the rifle and sent a 'bolt' at the alpha Beowolf.

It missed the intended mark, and instead nicked the alpha's calf. The creature recoiled at the unexpected pain, and gave Cerise the opening she needed.

I nearly did a double take as her sword lit up with a brilliant white fire as a sweeping blow cleaved the Beowolf in half.

My small moment of disbelief allowed one of my last Beowolves to take a swipe at my face, which I only managed to dodge by 'limboing' under it, which I turned into a backflip kick, and caught the offender under the jaw, lifting it off its feet and slamming it into the dirt. A quick swipe with a laser to the face and I moved onto the last three.

I spun to the left to dodge a blow and had the sword nip in and tickle a rib, before turning and firing a bolt into the second one's face.

I threw the blade into the final 'wolf's throat, before running up and tearing it out sideways, decapitating the monster.

I stood there as the body slumped to the ground.

"That was impressive," Cerise said.

"Thanks," I said. "I've heard there is _much _worse in these woods. We need to get moving again, this time away from the explosion."

"Agreed."

We set out again, this time being quieter about things.

* * *

**[Thirty minutes later]**

* * *

Finally, we managed to escape the forest, and stared across the clearing at the old ruined building.

It was as team RWBY and team JNPR described: a large, circular, ruined building with a series of pedestals arranged in a large circle.

Cerise and I walked up to it and looked inside.

"Gemstones?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Huh?" Cerise asked.

"Last semester it was apparently large chess pieces." I explained.

"And how do you know that?" Cerise asked.

"I've made some friends who did this last time, at the start of the school year." I explained.

"Oh."

"They're how I know so much about the challenge already." I said.

"Right... So which gem do we pick?" Cerise asked.

I looked around seeing dozens of varieties. Eventually I walked up and picked out a large pale blue sapphire with a visible "star" in the center. Like all the others, it was a simple rounded oval shape. I stashed the gem into a pouch on my belt.

"I say we take a small break and wait for someone else to show up. There's safety in numbers after all." I said. "I'm not looking forward to facing something like a Deathstalker or a Nevermore with just the two of us."

"You make a good point," Cerise said, sitting down on one of the old stone bricks that had fallen form the structure. "We'll wait for reinforcements then."

* * *

**Coming up next chapter: the Team meets up, weapon and appearance descriptions, and a new Grimm is introduced.**

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